Cutup Friday: 2022 Jaguars RB Swing Screen
This breakdown is taken from The 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars Complete Offensive Manual:
Running back Swing Screens are an easy way to get the ball to your running back in space. With an athlete like Travis Etienne, this concept fits the Jaguars personnel very well.
Using fast motion from the running back is a nice addition to the concept. This gives him a head start on any box linebacker who will have to match his swing route.
When the Jaguars called this play, they often paired it with a quick game concept on the other side of the field to create a SPO (screen-pass option). On paper, if a man defender runs with the swing/fast motion, the quick game concept on the other side of the field would have more space to work. The quick game concept would most often be a slant route in 3x1, or double slants from 2x2.
Why it Worked: In week 3 and week 16, Lawrence hits Etienne on the Swing against cover 2. The middle linebacker stays in the box, and the strong safety stays high initially. This left a 3 on 2 in favor of the offense. The next image shows the play.
This concept was a big part of the Jaguars game plan against the Chargers in the Wild Card game. In general, the Chargers box linebackers were slow to react to the Swing, giving the Jaguars numbers on the edge.
Why it Didn’t Work: The Swing, especially with fast motion, is secretly a tricky throw for quarterbacks. The ball placement is critical too, since the play relies entirely on yards after the catch. In week 6, the ball is thrown slightly behind the running back. Additionally, the box linebacker triggers quickly to make the tackle behind the line of scrimmage.
The link below for the “Cutup Library” lists all cutups available on Alert The Post at this time:
The video below is a 6-minute cutup of the Jaguars running the concept:
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